For the first time in history, an enormous floating device has been designed and used successfully to clean the ocean and collect trash from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
This innovative cleaning machine was invented by Boyan Slat, a 25-year-old Dutch inventor and engineer. It is made up of a long line of cork floats that holds a huge skirt, which traps all the trash below it.
Recently, the Ocean Cleanup made an announcement that this system was able to capture garbage such as visibly seen plastic debris, tiny microplastics as small as 1 millileter, to large fishing gear that was left in the ocean, better known as “ghost nets.”
Slat came out with a statement saying:
“After beginning this journey seven years ago, this first year of testing in the unforgivable environment of the high seas strongly indicates that our vision is attainable and that the beginning of our mission to rid the ocean of plastic garbage, which has accumulated for decades, is within our sights.
Our team has remained steadfast in its determination to solve immense technical challenges to arrive at this point. Though we still have much more work to do, I am eternally grateful for the team’s commitment and dedication to the mission and look forward to continuing to the next phase of development.”
The Ocean Cleanup Project’s high-tech system was launched last June in Vancouver, Canada. This variety of devices come with solar-powered lights, cameras, sensors and even satellite antennae that allow the users to view everything through the GPS.
According to marine biologists who have been tracking this innovative system, marine life still has the freedom to swim around this massive boom and there is no negative environmental impact by using this new machine.
Ocean researched, Charles Moore discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch back in 1997, which has eventually grown to be the biggest accumulation zone of plastic in the ocean world. Moore told CBS News that plastics are the #1 cause of environmental devastation across the planet, adding:
“Humanity’s plastic footprint is probably more dangerous than its carbon footprint.”
Experts and conversationists have repeatedly warned that plastics and micro plastics are continuously polluting the oceans and water supplies by giving out carcinogenic toxins and chemicals to the marine life. Plastic containers are also ultimately killing marine wildlife by trapping them under water.
In the last couple of years, plastic pollution has reached massive proportions that an approximate 100 million tons of this trash is now polluting the world’s oceans. Around 80 to 90 percent of plastic waste found in bodies of water comes from land-based sources.
According to a report that was completed for the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland has 2016, it has been estimated that the plastic waste found in the ocean will outnumber all the fish by 2050.
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